The ADCB 365 Cashback Credit Card is the bank’s flagship everyday cashback Visa — built around accelerated rates on dining, online, groceries and fuel, with a hard AED 5,000 monthly-spend floor and an AED 1,000 monthly cashback ceiling that bracket who the card is actually for.
- Annual fee
- AED 383.25 incl. VAT
- Min salary
- AED 5,000/mo
- Top earn rate
- 6% Dining
Pros
- Strong category rates — 6% dining and online, 5% groceries — ahead of most flat-rate UAE cashback cards
- No annual fee in year one and a low AED 5,000 minimum-salary bar with no salary-transfer requirement
- AED 365 welcome bonus, paid within 90 days of card issuance, covers all but AED 18.25 of the year-two fee
- VOX cinema buy-one-get-one (up to 4 tickets/month) on top of the cashback
Cons
- The AED 5,000 monthly-spend gate is unforgiving — a quiet month earns AED 0 cashback
- AED 1,000 monthly cashback cap means the headline rates suit moderate, not heavy, category spend
- International retail purchases earn 1% only, regardless of category — not a card to take abroad
- 2.99% foreign-currency fee is in line with the UAE market band — no FX advantage versus peers
- No spend-based waiver on the AED 383.25 year-two fee — unlike most ADCB cards we cover
Earn rates
Cashback is paid as a percentage of spend per category. The 1% on “everything else” also applies to all international retail purchases, regardless of which domestic category the merchant would normally fall into:
- Dining
- 6%
- Groceries
- 5%
- Fuel
- 3%
- Online
- 6%
- International spend
- 1%
- Everything else
- 1%
Fee summary
There is no annual fee in year one. From year two the primary card carries AED 383.25 (incl. VAT), with no spend-based waiver. Foreign-currency transactions carry a 2.99% margin, in line with the typical UAE market band — no FX advantage on this card, take a dedicated travel card abroad.
What you get — per-benefit value
The 365 Cashback is mostly an earn-rate card, but the welcome bonus and the cinema perk are countable too. Assumptions stated with each figure; all cashback pays in direct AED.
Category cashback on monthly spend
At a household running AED 3,000 of dining and online spend plus AED 2,000 of groceries a month — clearing the AED 5,000 floor exactly — the earn is 6% × AED 3,000 + 5% × AED 2,000 = AED 280/month. Value to me: AED 3,360/year on that profile. The AED 1,000 monthly cap doesn’t bind until roughly AED 16,700 of top-rate spend; at full cap the ceiling is AED 12,000/year, which takes consistently heavy category spend.
AED 365 welcome bonus
Paid as cashback within 90 days of issuance, year one only. Value to me: AED 365, one-time.
VOX Cinemas buy-one-get-one
Up to 4 tickets a month. At the AED 40–50 typical UAE ticket, one paired visit a month saves one ticket: Value to me: AED 480–600/year — double that at the full four-ticket ration if the cinema habit is already there.
Total package: for the AED 5,000-floor household above, cashback (~AED 3,360) plus a monthly cinema pair (~AED 480–600) comes to roughly AED 3,800–4,000 a year against the AED 383.25 year-two fee — and year one adds the AED 365 welcome on a waived fee. The maths fails only if you miss the AED 5,000 monthly floor, which zeroes that month’s earn entirely.
Key conditions to know
- Cashback floor and cap
- AED 5,000 minimum monthly spend before any cashback is earned; AED 1,000 maximum cashback per month. Both reset on the calendar month.
- Accelerated categories
- 6% on dining (including online food orders); 6% on online spend; 5% on groceries; 3% on utilities, telecom, fuel and Salik; 1% on everything else and on all international retail purchases regardless of category.
- Welcome bonus
- AED 365 one-time cashback for signing up, credited within 90 days of card issuance in the first year. No separate spend trigger is published on the welcome cashback.
- Cinema
- VOX Cinemas buy-one-get-one ticket offer — up to 4 tickets per month per card.
- Eligibility
- Minimum salary AED 5,000/month. Salaried employees only on the product page. UAE residency required. Salary transfer not required.
Watch out for
- The AED 5,000 spend floor. A holiday month, a maternity break, a freelance dry patch — any month under AED 5,000 of card spend earns AED 0 cashback. Plan accordingly.
- The AED 1,000 cashback ceiling. The 6% headline tops out at around AED 16,700 of dining/online spend alone. Heavier monthly spenders should pair this card with a flat-rate card for spend above the cap.
- International spend earns 1% only. This is a domestic card. Take a travel card abroad — the 6% category rates do not follow you across borders.
- No spend-based waiver on the year-two fee. Budget for the AED 383.25 from year two — unlike most ADCB cards we cover, this one has no waiver mechanic.
- Clawback realities. Welcome bonuses are typically reversible if the card is cancelled within 12 months — confirm with ADCB before applying if you plan to close the card early.
Is it worth it?
For a UAE resident whose monthly card spend reliably clears AED 5,000 and is weighted toward dining, online and groceries, the 365 Cashback earns its place. Five months at the AED 1,000 ceiling clears AED 5,000 of cashback against an AED 383.25 year-two fee — comfortable headroom — and the AED 365 welcome bonus covers all but AED 18.25 of year two if triggered.
It is the wrong card for anyone whose monthly spend swings below AED 5,000, because the entire month’s earn falls to zero on those months. For that profile, ADCB’s Essential Cashback sibling has a lower AED 1,000 monthly floor and is the safer pick. For international travel spend the rate is a flat 1% — take a dedicated travel card abroad.
Bottom line
A strong category-cashback Visa for consistent mid-to-high spenders on dining, online and groceries. Apply if you’ll reliably clear AED 5,000 of monthly spend on the named categories. Skip if your month-to-month spend swings below the floor — every quiet month wipes that month’s earn.
For ADCB’s place in the wider salary-transfer market, see the ADCB hub and the live salary-transfer tracker.